


A Gift

by Mayarene Rose (Paradise_of_Mary_Jane)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 02:38:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8950642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paradise_of_Mary_Jane/pseuds/Mayarene%20Rose
Summary: Cisco is out of ideas so Barry makes the Vibe costume.





	

“I mean, I know that I’m like the Edna Mole of this Earth, but I’m a bit stumped for ideas for my own suit,” Cisco finishes, a weird combination of helpless and indifferent. He pops a few candies into his mouth.

Barry frowns. They’re alone in the Cortex. Caitlin and HR are off doing tests on Wally, and Iris and Joe are doing their respective jobs. It was a slow morning and there wasn’t much in way of criminals, so Barry had asked. The answer he got was pretty much the last thing he expected.

“Is that why you don’t want to go out in the field?” he asks. Because as far as he can tell, the Cisco of this timeline is perfectly comfortable with his powers in the way the first Cisco never really was.

Cisco hesitates slightly. He says,

“Well yeah, among other things.”

Barry’s frown deepens. Cisco’s been there for him every step of the way, made the perfect suit for him so that he can be The Flash. It seems incredibly unfair that Central City won’t get to acknowledge Cisco as a hero just because of something as small as not having a superhero suit. That’s the point of having a team to back you up, so that you get to do your good work without having to stumble around in the dark on your own because there’s always someone you can fall back on whenever you come up short.

The beginnings of an idea begin to form in Barry’s mind.

“Tell you what man,” he says, “I’ll make your superhero suit.”

Cisco turns to him, confused. His hand stills on the bag of candy.

“You?” he says.

Barry stretches an arm over his head. It seems like a good idea in his mind. Then again, he hasn’t had much good ideas where Cisco’s been concerned lately.

“Well, yeah,” he says. “You’re stumped for ideas so maybe I can help. I mean, I’m not an engineer, obviously, so I can’t build the tech, but I do know something about polymers and what looks good on a superhero. And you know making sure you don’t die.”

Cisco looks at him for a long time. For a moment, Barry thinks he’s going to say no. If there’s one thing to be said about Cisco, it’s the fact that he’s incredibly protective of his title of ‘ultimate tech genius for superheroes’. But then, his face breaks out into a smile.

“One chance,” he says, holding up a finger to illustrate his point. “You get one chance.”

“Thanks man,” Barry says. “You won’t regret this.”

“I better not,” Cisco says. He offers Barry some candy. “I’m putting my faith in you Barry Allen.”

Barry grins at him and takes some candy from the bag. This is going to be awesome.

##

Barry starts with red.

It makes sense. It’s Cisco’s favorite color and what’s the point of having a superhero suit if you don’t get to have it in your favorite color? Besides, the gauntlets are already red so it fits. He puts in yellow accents as well, and okay, maybe it’s beginning to follow the color scheme of The Flash costume, but that just means that they’re on the same side. That they’re a team.

Cisco’s not a speedster, obviously, so that’s definitely a no with the spandex. Nothing too tight-fitting because how would that even make sense? He can just imagine the look on Cisco’s face if he tries to pull that one. But maybe something with leather, or some material similar to what the Flash costume has now. It’s good, sturdy material. As far as Barry can tell, Cisco designed that particular polymer to be bulletproof.

He can already picture Cisco wearing it and it’s going to be great. It’s going to be perfect.

But there’s still something missing. Barry wants something on Cisco’s suit to show his powers, like the lightning symbol for Barry. Cisco’s powers deal with soundwaves. Well, vibrations really, but practically the same thing. Cisco’s powers deal with vibrations and Barry’s a bit stumped as to how to show that into the real world. Something to complete the picture.

In the end, it’s Wally who gives him the idea.

He asked for Barry’s help with installing speakers into his car.

Well, it’s not really helping, more of catching up with each other. It’s not like installing speakers would take long for either of them. Perks of being a speedster.

“Thanks for helping out man,” Wally says. “Since I moved out, it feels like I barely even see you anymore. When you’re not being The Flash, I mean.”

“It’s cool,” Barry says. “And yeah, we don’t really hang out anymore. I missed this.”

Life’s been pretty busy. Barry’s still trying to get back into Singh’s good graces—apparently suddenly quitting is not something he’s amused by—and everything going on with the Flash, and Cisco’s suit. He’s missed spending time with Wally. It was easier when they were living together.

Wally smiles at him. It looks eerily similar to Iris’ smile.

“Well we’re hanging out now,” he says. “We should do this more often.”

And Wally takes the speakers out of their boxes and Barry feels a light bulb light up in his head.

“What’s that?” he says.

Wally looks confused for a moment.

“Uh Speakers. You know, the one we’re putting in my car?”

“Oh my god, of course.” The black part of the speakers, metals crisscrossing over each other, over and over again, forming a familiar pattern, moving in time to the music’s beat. Vibrations.

Simple and easily recognizable at the same time.

It’s perfect.

“Listen Wally, I’ve just got an idea and yeah. This was fun, we should do it again sometimes.” Barry might’ve been talking at superspeed but that doesn’t matter. He speeds off because the idea is perfect and he’s wondering how he hasn’t thought of it before.

The last thing he sees is Wally—not looking annoyed, only bemused. By now, he’s gotten used to Barry acting weird.

##

He stays up all night for an entire week to finish the suit. It turns out that making an entire super suit from scratch isn’t the easiest of tasks.

In his distant hazy mind, he wonders how Cisco does it for an entire battalion of superheroes and still have time to be updated with pop culture and help with Flash and police work.

He decides that they really do not give the man enough credit.

Iris comes over to him at around midnight on the first day, wrapping an arm around his waist and hooking her chin against his shoulder.

“What’cha doing, Bar?”

She’s also put coffee on Barry’s desk, to which Barry is immensely grateful for.

“Cisco’s super suit,” he says. “He’s stumped for ideas and I said I’d help him.”

Iris shifts slightly, looking at his design sketches.

“You’re really going all out, huh?” 

“Well yeah,” Barry says. “It’s Cisco.” 

Iris smiles at him.

“Well it looks amazing,” she says. “And I’m sure Cisco is going to love it. But, try to get some sleep alright?” She pulls away, ruffling his hair slightly.

Barry takes a moment to watch her enter their room.

Then he gets back to designing.

It’s Cisco’s super suit. It has to be perfect. 

He can survive without sleep anyway. Probably.

##

Barry is bouncing on the soles of his feet, excited. He’s pretty sure that he’s running on pure adrenaline at this point. That and the image he has of the look on Cisco’s face when he sees the suit because it’s finally done.

Cisco is glaring at him.

“You better have a good reason for bringing me over here at this hour, Barry Allen,” he says.

And okay, yeah, Barry might’ve whisked Cisco away from his apartment at two in the morning and brought him back to the Cortex but that’s only because the suit is finally done and Cisco needs to see it right now. And, truthfully speaking, Barry’s pretty sure that if he doesn’t show Cisco the suit right now, he probably won’t get to do it until next week because Barry is going to be hibernating for the next few days.

Barry doesn’t say anything. Just points to the spot where the Flash suit usually is, only now he’s replaced it with Cisco’s suit.

He waits for Cisco to grin at him, maybe a little high-five. Cisco would probably have notes and modifications on it because he’s Cisco but Barry knows that he’s been looking to go on the field for a long time now and Cisco would love it. Barry knows he will.

What he doesn’t expect is for Cisco to lose all the color in his face.

“You made this?” he asks, voice coming out wrong; all strangled and scared.

“Yeah,” Barry says, uncertain.

“But where did you get the idea? Did someone—Why did you make it like this?”

“I just. What’s wrong, Cisco?”

Cisco had sunk to one of the chairs. He looks like he’s seen a ghost.

“Okay, confession time,” he says. “I may have one more reason why I’ve been putting off the suit. Remember that vibe I had about of me and Caitlin? Fighting in the future?”

Barry nods. He sits down on the chair next to Cisco.

“Well we were in full costume mode there. Caitlin had this blue jumpsuit thing on. Not like, the dominatrix getup Earth-2 Caitlin had, it was actually pretty rad. And me.” He nods to the suit Barry made. “That’s what I was wearing. And the thing is, it’s actually perfect. I loved it actually and it looked perfect. But I thought that if I made the suit—and let’s face it, if I start building the suit I’ll end up finishing it—then it’ll just be one step closer to the future so.”

A piece of the puzzle Barry hadn’t even known he’d been pondering finally slots into place. Cisco’s hesitance. His easy handing over the reins to Barry. He’d been trying to avoid something. And he’d ended up letting it happen anyway.

It seems as if the ground had been swept from under Barry’s feet and he’s really, really glad he sat down. There’s a heaviness in his stomach, pulling him down to the floor. Cisco had seen the future. And he’d done his best to stop it and it still happened anyway and—

“Listen Cisco,” Barry says. “You can’t let that stop you. You don’t know what’s gonna happen in the future. You don’t know if putting on that suit would make any of that happen.”

“But it might.” Cisco looks panicked, like a hunted animal. “What if it just sets off this whole set of events and it started because I put on that costume.”

“The future isn’t set in stone.” Cisco looks like he wants to argue, but Barry isn’t letting him have this one. He can’t. “Remember when Jay and I threw the box into the speedforce?”

Cisco nods, looking confused at the change in subject.

“Yeah?” he says.

“That’s not the only thing that happened.” Barry takes a deep breath. This is something he hasn’t told any of the team. Even now, he can picture the memory, clear as day. It’s probably burned into his mind right now. Telling it feels too much like making it real but he needs to do it. For Cisco and for himself. “When I went into the speedforce, I travelled into the future.”

Cisco’s eyes sharpen in surprise.

“The future?” he says. “Did we know you could do that? Did you know you can do that?”

Barry shakes his head.

“I didn’t,” he says. “It was just five months. But that’s not the point. The point is I saw Savitar. Killing Iris.”

Cisco’s hand stills. Barry keeps going because if he doesn’t he’s pretty sure he’s never going to get the story out.

“I was the Flash and we were standing outside the apartment I just bought and Savitar said I lost. I couldn’t save her.”

“But doesn’t that make you want to change things?” Cisco asks. “To make sure that doesn’t happen?”

“That’s the thing,” Barry says. “I wouldn’t know what to change. I was the Flash at the time but I’m not just going to stop being the Flash. It was in front of the apartment I bought for Iris and me, but I wasn’t just going to sell it again or never use it because I want to be with Iris and I bought it for both of us. Iris bought the coat she was wearing that night the other day and I couldn’t exactly stop her. What was I gonna say? ‘Don’t buy that because I saw you getting murdered in it?’ And I wouldn’t even know if it makes a difference at all.”

“But you don’t know that—”

“Exactly,” Barry says. “We don’t know how the future’s going to turn out, but we can’t let that stop us from living our lives.”

Cisco laughs quietly, a sad, pathetic sound.

“You know what’s the worst part about the vibe?” he says. “It wasn’t even that we were fighting or that I’m pretty sure I’m grievously injured in it. It’s the fact that I’m not even sure who good guy was.”

“Cisco…”

“I mean, we’re all up on Caitlin because her hair’s turning white and she’s getting cold powers that make her go out on rampages that I think we’re forgetting that she wasn’t the only one who was evil on Earth-2.”

“Cisco listen to me.” He waits until Cisco’s met his eyes until he continues. “None of us are going to turn evil, and I know you’re scared of that happening, but we’re not going to let that happen, okay? Not to you and not to Caitlin.”

“I mean I don’t plan on being a murderous psychopath—“

“Exactly,” Barry says. “You’re a good person, Cisco. You’re not going to be him. Ever. And whatever happened in that vibe, we’re going to stop it because that’s what we do.”

Cisco doesn’t say anything. Barry knows that it’s going to take a lot more convincing before he actually believes what Barry says.

“Look man,” Barry says. “You don’t have to wear the suit and go out into the field if you don’t want to, that’s your choice. But don’t stop yourself because you’re scared of what it might mean in the future. That’s no way to live your life.”

Cisco looks down and for a moment, Barry’s scared that he’s going to say no. That he’s said the wrong thing and that he’s forever going to stay out of being a superhero. Then Cisco takes a shaky breath and says,

“Okay. STAR Labs forever, right?”

Barry laughs, like he did lifetimes ago.

“STAR Labs forever,” he says.

##

The first time Vibe makes the paper in full costume, he’s already the talk of the town. Central City can’t seem to get enough of their new superhero.

For an entire week afterwards, Barry doesn’t think Cisco ever stopped grinning.

**Author's Note:**

> check me out on tumblr if you want :)


End file.
